Page 25 of Made for Mayhem

“Good idea. He’s got a busy schedule. My people had to call his people just to set up this breakfast meeting.”

The barn waited in the soft sunlight, red paint peeling at the edges, the smell of hay and dust curling out from the half-open doors. Junie helped me tug a bale toward the fence line where Uno stood, one ear flicked forward as if he’d been expecting her.

“Hi, Uno,” she whispered to my one-eyed llama, reaching up with a fistful of hay.

He leaned forward and licked her cheek. Junie giggled, bright and unguarded, too full of life for a girl who’d lost so much. The sound cracked something open in my chest.

She wiped her cheek on her sleeve, still petting Uno’s coarse white wool. “When’s Dizzy coming?”

Dizzy. Even the silly nickname for this mysterious aunt filled me with dread. I’d only ever heard of her in stories, and I didn’t like the idea of Violet’s sister never once coming to see them in the three years they’d been my neighbors. I grew up with parents who sometimes forgot I existed, and that was the last thing I wanted for Junie.

“I don’t know, kiddo,” I tossed another flake of hay over the fence. “As soon as she can.”

Junie’s mouth curved, just a little. “She drives fast, so I bet it’ll be soon. Did I tell you about how she used to sneak me candy when Mom said no? She’d come in to tell me the best bedtime stories about the moon that ate donuts and burped stars, and we’d eat our sour cherries under the covers.”

I smiled, though something heavy settled low in my chest. That all sounded great through the eyes of a kid, but where the hell had this woman been the past few months? Not at the hospital. Not when Violet got sick. Not when things got bad. “She sounds great.”

Junie nodded. “She’s the best. You’ll see.”

I hoped she was right.

The early sun climbed higher while we did the rest of our morning chores, and Rowdy flopped into the shade of the fence, one ear twitching at a fly. I tried to take comfort in the familiar quiet, but the faint rattle of an engine pulled my attention toward the two-lane highway.

A little red Volkswagen zipped past, going way too fast for a road that could chew through suspension like nothing. I watched it disappear behind the trees, then turned back to Junie as she patted the weirdest llama I’d ever met.

“Did you know llamas have three stomach compartments?” Junie said, still focused on Uno. “One’s called the rumen, and it makes gas.”

“Is that right?” I said, folding my arms on the top rail of the fence. The car passed again, this time heading back toward town.

She nodded while playing with Uno’s ears. “Llamas hum when they’re happy. Or nervous. Or lonely. Or mad.”

“Is Beckett a llama then?”

Junie grinned at the mention of my best friend. “He hums a lot, but I don’t think so.”

She hopped off the fence, tugging my hand as we headed toward the side of the barn where the barn cat had stashed herself and her kittens. Junie crouched down, whispering something only cats and eight-year-olds understood, lifting a tiny gray kitten to her chest.

The car passed a third time, slower now, and I turned my attention to it. I was far enough outside town, cars didn’t just show up. They belonged, or they didn’t.

When the little red Bug turned into the shared gravel drive between my house and Violet’s, Junie looked up too.

“Who’s that?” Junie asked, clutching the kitten closer to her chest.

The unease that had been simmering since breakfast climbed higher when the car parked. “No idea.”

The driver’s door opened, and a blonde woman stepped out, shielding her eyes against the sun with one hand as she looked around. She squinted at Violet’s house, turning a slow circle like she was trying to figure out where the hell she’d landed.

Junie gasped. “Dizzy!”

The kitten hit the ground as she tore off down the driveway, rain boots kicking up tiny stones.

I rushed after her. “Junie—hey, slow down!”

“Dizzy!” Junie belted.

The woman dropped to her knees on the gravel driveway, arms out. Junie collided with her at full-speed, arms wrapped tight around her aunt’s neck.

She stayed on her knees, arms wrapped around Junie, her face hidden against the top of the girl’s head as they clung to each other. All I could see was sunlight catching in her blonde hair and the tremor in her shoulders as she held Junie close.